Welcome back weasel hunters! Today we announce our winners from last week’s hunt in that vast wasteland known as the WeaselSphere. Our esteemed council members searched high and low for the best articles they could find that informed the world of weasels in their midst; what a great hunt it was!

I was reading this week’s articles and I was floored by how one winning entry summed up and expanded my thinking on the Arab/Israeli conflict. Non-Council winner Richard Landes at Augean Stables quite literally hit the ball out of the park with his answer to some Christian students about his perspective on why the conflict is so hard to solve and how he would resolve it.

For example, the following is an expert from his response to the question: What do you think is the root cause of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict?

Here, I think the only viable explanation is to understand the blow to Arab/Muslim honor at the creation of a free and independent state run by non-Muslims in Dar-al-Islam. (For a larger discussion of this, see here.) As the Athenians explained to the Melians: “It’s not so terrible to be conquered by those who should rule (like the Spartans, or in this case the Christians), but it is unbearable to be defeated by those who should be subject (like the Melians or, in this case, the Jews).”

If you don’t know about the Muslim principles of Dar-al-Islam (the realm of submission where Muslims rule) and Dar-al-Harb (the land of the sword, with which Muslims are at war), you can’t possibly understand either the permanent hostility of the Arabs to Israel (including their refusal to recognize her), or the willingness of the Arabs to keep the Palestinians suffering in refugee camps so that they can be used as a weapon against Israel.

By Muslim standards, the very existence of Israel is a theological blasphemy and an unbearable affront to their honor. That’s what the Naqba is about. If it were about the terrible suffering of the Palestinians who had to flee as a result of the war (which is what the “pro-”Palestinian would have us believe), then the Arabs and Palestinian leaders would have done something to make their lives better (including using a tiny fraction of the trillions of petrodollars Arab countries have taken in in the last half-century). Instead they confined them to permanent refugee camps (no cement floors allowed, they had to live in tents and the mud for years).

It’s striking that during the Oslo peace process, when the Palestinian authority had control of both refugee camps and territory, they didn’t take one refugee family out of those camps.

This is just one of many great insights; a must read.

Likewise, the winning submissions on the council side presented me with a dilemma as we had a two way tie for the top spot. It is up to me to decide the winner of these ties as part of my Watcher’s duties and it was very close. On the one side we have Bookworm with her wonderful insights pertaining to a television show she watched with the hubby on the predator/prey relationship in Yellowstone National Park and how that pertains to the United States under the Obama administration.

Here is Bookworm on defense:

The worst defense is the cute defense my dog uses, because it’s the only defense that depends, not just on the prey’s skills, but on the predator’s conscience. The only reason this defense works between my dog and me is because I have a conscience and I’m extremely amenable to cute. However, it’s an utter failure if (i) you’re incapable of being cute and (ii) your predator couldn’t care less about cuteness. Indeed, for a true predator, the “cuter” you are, the more of a meal you present. Good food, with the virtue of easy hunting.

Unfortunately, President Obama is trying to position us as the cute nation. He’s convinced, as are his liberal acolytes, that if he just goes around the world being cute and submissive, other nations will just want to hold the United States in their collective arms, and feed us and cuddle us. The problem with this notion, of course, is that nations (except for maybe Lichtenstein) are not cute and, even if they were, our enemies are not amenable to cute. Just as a wolf, faced with my darling little dog, would eat her in a single bite, so too will the hostile nations of the world, most of whom function either as perfect predators or smart ones (the Norks, Venezuela, Russia, Iran, etc.), view Obama’s supine, submissive, cute, cute, cute America as the perfect easy target.

Iran’s government is a hyper-aggressive theocracy whose goals are to spread the Khomeinist Islamic revolution throughout the Middle East and the world, to destroy Israel, and to drive the U.S. out of the Middle East. Those goals are non-negotiable and Iran’s mad mullahs have proven utterly beyond any civilized limits in their pursit of these goals. In the history of Iran’s theocracy, the only things which have ever caused the mad mullahs to alter their deadly trajectory have been the actual or threatened use of force.

As Sec. Def. Robert Gates summed up the nature of the theocracy a year ago, “everywhere you turn, it is the policy of Iran to foment instability and chaos, no matter the strategic value or cost in the blood of innocents – Christians, Jews and Muslims alike.” The Treasury Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence has testified that Iran is the “central banker” for terrorism throughout the world. I have blogged on Iran repeatedly and itemized many of the terrorist acts by the Iranian regime. The list is as valid today as it was when I wrote it – with the exception that Iran has now become even more aggressive in its deadly pursuits with the ascension of Obama to the post of U.S. President.

The choice was difficult and in the end I went with Wolf Howling as his article, like Bookworm’s, touches on all sorts of dangers lurking out there for the unwitting, and in some case willing, victims of aggressive predators; hyper weasels just waiting for the perfect opportunity to pounce on and devour their foes. Tasty.

Congratulations go out to all the winning entries. Remember, keep your head up, your eyes wide open and your keyboards clicking. Please share these great articles with all your fans!!

[...] As it is, I came in second to the Wolf, which is a pretty good position on its own. Here are the complete results (and if you follow this link, you can see the Watcher’s commentary, tying all the threads [...]

Montana Defies Feds on Guns, Ammo, Silencers and Other Accessories Now the Democratic governor of Montana has signed into law an incredible attempt to erode the power of the Federal Government as it applies to gun laws. Let me just……

First place in the Council category was Wolf Howling with Waiting For The Iranian Shoe To Drop. First place in the non-Council category was The Augean Stables with What Do I Think of the Arab-Israeli Conflict? Answers to a Questionnaire…….